Court-Martial Scare
by CAVALRYMAN1863
Summary: When Lt Danford disobeys orders and strikes Capt Stark, he buys himself a Court-Martial, but can the Two Bluecoats scare the Captain into dropping the charges.


It was October 31st 1862, the 22nd Cavalry was covering the retreat of General Alexander's entire Division for a mile, they were given orders to pull back to the hills for a better position of their artillery. Lt Danford had command of the right flank but went to the center to tell Capt Stark they had been given orders to pull out, he took Company B with him, that included Sgt Chesterfield and Corporal Blutch. They rode away from a group of Confederate Cavalry that was chasing them, the Lieutenant ordered his men forward, trying to outrun the Rebs.

Lt Danford: "COME ON MEN, FORWARD!" He looked behind to see the Reb battle flags get further and further away, but the rebs still had a determined look on their face to catch the yankees. As the Union Troopers continued to gallop down a wagon road and avoid cannon fire, Cpl Blutch and Sgt Chesterfield talked.

Cpl Blutch: "Now you tell me Sarge, why did we had to hold the area a mile west of the hills and ridges, instead of holding them their."

Sgt Chesterfield: "To give the IV Corps time to deploy it's men and artillery you halfwit." They continued on up a ridge

As the men galloped to the top of a ridge, the Lieutenant halted his men, they could see the Division Artillery pull back in a disorganized manner across a stone bridge. They also saw cavalrymen from the rest of the Regiment, both mounted and dismounted pull back with the Artillery. Lt Danford took out his field glasses and looked through to see a Company of Infantry from the 29th Pennsylvania make a run for the bridge, and an entire company of Reb cavalry right on their tail. He thought about his orders to pull back, but then he realized he would be giving the Confederates the chance to tear apart that company of Infantry, so he gave his own orders to his men.

Lt Danford: "DISMOUNT, PREPARE TO FIGHT ON FOOT!"

The bugler sounded the call to dismount, Cpl Blutch and Sgt Chesterfield looked at each other and followed the order and got their Spencer Carbines. The men formed a skirmish line and formed up behind the Lieutenant, they had passed on their horses to a few men to hold them, but the majority of the company was dismounted. The Lieutenant drew his saber in his right hand, and his pistol in his left, he straightened his hardee hat before yelling to his men.

Lt Danford: "SKIRMISHERS, DRIVE CENTER, FORWARD!" The men quickly ran down the hill, and as they did so, Capt Stark was the last of the cavalrymen across the bridge, he had been given his orders to pull back and charged the enemy four times before doing so.

He looked at the base of the hill to see Lt Danford and his Company run down there and take a position behind a worn down wooden fence and kneeled behind it, he galloped toward the Lieutenant with and angry look, some men couldn't tell what was more red, his beard or his face.

Capt Stark: "What are you doing here Danford, you have orders to retreat to the hills to the East." The Lieutenant with his hand that help his pistol gripped the scabbard of his saber in a little bit of anger.

Lt Danford: "I'm gonna hold that bridge till the Infantry can get across." His men looked at him as he yelled at his superior.

Capt Stark: "You had your orders Lieutenant." He turned to the men. "COMPANY B, PREPARE TO RETIRE!" The men got up to run back to their horses when the Lieutenant turned around vigorously.

Lt Danford: "AS YOU WERE COMPANY B!" The men kneeled once again, they were a bit more afraid of Lt Danford than Capt Stark. Cpl Blutch listened to the Lieutenant more than the Captain, because he trusted him more, so did Sgt Chesterfield, he was just as afraid of the Lieutenant when he was angry.

The Captain looked down hard at the Lieutenant, the Lieutenant looked back at him and gritting his teeth, he was angry and determined.

Capt Stark: "I'm in command here Danford, just as long as I can stand." The Lieutenant then let go of scabbard and gripped his pistol by the revolving chamber.

Lt Danford: "That suits me." He hit the Captain over the head with the handle of his Colt Revolver, the men saw this and were shocked by this, the Captain fell off his horse and lay unconscious on the ground. The Lieutenant looked over at the troopers in his company and knocked them out of their trance. "COME ONE MEN, LET'S TAKE THAT BRIDGE!"

The Bugler sounded the advance and the men rushed forward toward the bridge, Blutch tried to sneak to the rear when Sgt Chesterfield gave him a angry look, they took position behind a stone wall above the river bank, and as the last Infantryman was across the bridge, the troopers looked down their sights at the closing Rebel Cavalrymen.

Sgt Chesterfield: "Here they come!" The Sergeant-Major aimed his Carbine at one of the Rebs and waited for the order to open fire, the Corporal did the same but wasn't as enthusiastic.

Lt Danford: "READY, AIM, FIRE!" The men all fired at the same time, the Confederates were taken by surprise, the men kept firing their Carbines until the Rebs pulled back, even then they kept firing. The Rebs started to waiver and fell back to a small farm on a ridge, but Lt Danford wouldn't let them get away easily. "FORWARD MEN!"

The Lieutenant lead the charge as the men ran forward, the Confederates didn't know what to think of it, they took a position behind a large fence bordering the farm. But Lt Danford managed to get into a good position for his men to fire on them before they got there, he had his men lay down at the base of the ridge and fired upward onto the Rebels. The Yankees poured hot lead onto the rebs and the rebs and panic started get into their systems so they mounted their horses and started to make a run for their own lines.

Lt Danford: "Bugler, sound recall!"

Bugler: *Recall*

As the men trotted back up toward their new position Capt Stark appeared with two other officers, Lt Cohill and Lt Woodward, as well as five other enlisted men.

Lt Woodward: "Lieutenant Danford, your under arrest." The Lieutenant didn't seem surprised, he just kept a straight face.

Lt Danford: "On what charges?" The Sergeant and Corporal looked at each other, they were in shock, sure the Lieutenant had hit his superior, but to save lives, shouldn't that overrule any legal charges on the Lieutenant?

Lt Woodward: "On the charges of insubordination, disobedience of orders, and striking a superior officer. Are you coming peaceably?" The Lieutenant looked at his friend Lt Cohill who said nothing, Lt Woodward was also his friend, and he had given him a sympathetic look, but he was under orders. Then he turned to the troopers who had their carbines drawn, he sighed.

Lt Danford: "Well, no sense in putting up a fight." He trotted in between the five troopers and they put handcuffs on him, Lt Cohill took his friend's position at the front of the column. He watched as his friend was escorted away.

Capt Stark: "Lieutenant Cohill, I trust you will be able to handle command of the Company while the Lieutenant is being court-martialed." The 2nd Lieutenant could only salute.

Lt Cohill: "Yes sir."

The Lieutenant guided the men to their new camp on Pine Tree Hill, close to Gen Alexander's headquarters and Capt Stark's quarters wasn't far from the sea of tents of the men of the 22nd Cavalry. The Sergeant and Corporal went to see the Lieutenant.

Sgt Chesterfield: "Lieutenant Danford?" The Lieutenant was wearing his white shirt and sky blue trousers, he was smoking a cigar when he turned to face the Sergeant

Lt Danford: "Come in Sergeant, I'm glad to have some visitors." He threw down the cigar and let the two NCO's into the tent.

Cpl Blutch: "I'm sorry this happened to you sir."

Lt Danford: "Don't be Corporal, I knew Old Iron Pants Stark would do this, him and I have never seen eye to eye."

Sgt Chesterfield: "But you saved an entire company of men, can't they overlook this? If anything they should give you a medal!"

Lt Danford: "The officer in charge will testify on my side, but I doubt it will do me much good, thanks for visiting gentlemen, but you should probably get back to the rest of the Company before Stark finds out you were here." The two NCO's shook hands with the Lieutenant and left the tent, a little later, some of the other NCO's in Company B were in the tent that Sgt Chesterfield and Cpl Blutch shared to talk about what happened to Lt Danford.

Sgt Portland: "So the Lieutenant's getting Court-Martialed?! For WHAT?!"

Sgt Chesterfield: "Insubordination, Disobeying Orders, Hitting the Captain."

Cpl Harris: "But he saved that Company of Infantry, shouldn't that overrule anything?"

Sgt Chesterfield: "The Captain doesn't seem to care about that, besides he's sticking to keeping the Lieutenant confined to quarters until the Court-Martial in two days, unless the Captain drops the charges before the 2nd of November, the Lieutenant's doomed." Blutch had been pacing back and forth trying to come up with an idea, it was getting on the Sergeant's nerves. "BLAST IT CORPORAL, WILL YOU STOP THAT PACING, IT'S GETTING ON MY NERVES!" The Corporal then turned to the other Non Commissioned Officers and snapped his fingers.

Cpl Blutch: "What's today?"

Sgt Portland: "Wednesday."

Cpl Blutch: "No, the date."

Sgt Chesterfield: "October 31st, what does it matter anyway?"

Cpl Blutch: "Today's Halloween!" The Corporal was ecstatic, but the others were confused.

Cpl Harris: "Yeah, a holiday to remember the one's in the great beyond, also an excuse for kids to carve out pumpkins that their parents took so long to plant, so what?"

Cpl Blutch: "If we can get the Captain to believe that some men that have served under him that are now no longer with us are ghosts, maybe we can scare him into dropping the charges on the Lieutenant." Sgt Chesterfield pondered it for a minute, then he looked at Blutch and shook his head.

Sgt Chesterfield: "It sounds like a great idea Blutch, really it does, but the chances of the Captain falling for that kind of a stunt is slim, who would we disguise as, men in white bed sheets wearing Union uniforms?

Cpl Blutch: "We find some tattered clothes, some bandages and cover some of it with red ink, dye, or paint, and we scare the Captain while he's sleeping."

Sgt Portland: "Sounds crazy, but I bet you and the Sarge will do great." The Sergeant-Major went wide eyed at that.

Sgt Chesterfield: "WAIT A MINUTE, you two aren't coming too?"

Sgt Portland: "No way."

Cpl Harris: "Not in a million years."

Sgt Portland: "If we get caught, that's the firing squad, you two have done this kind of thing before, you two can manage without us." Sgt Chesterfield growled, making the two visiting NCO's start to sweat viciously.

Sgt Chesterfield: "Thank you for the vote of confidence Sergeant Portland, now, GET OUT OF HERE!" The other two NCO's quickly got up and ran out of there before Sgt Chesterfield threw a tin cup and a canteen at both of them. He sat back down on his cot and listened to Blutch's plan in detail.

 _Later that Night_

Sgt Chesterfield waited in a bush a few yards from the Captain's quarters, that was in a medium sized log cabin, the Sergeant had been waiting for Blutch to come up with the supplies they would need to scare the Captain, he heard footsteps behind him and it was the Corporal.

Sgt Chesterfield: "Now Corporal, where have you been?" The Sergeant was red with anger, but because it was night, you couldn't exactly see it.

Cpl Blutch: "Well I was getting some different uniforms, I've got a Lieutenant's uniform, a bugler's uniform, and a bunch of bandages and red ink."

Sgt Chesterfield: "Why red ink?"

Cpl Blutch: "What else will we use as fake blood?" The Sergeant thought on it for a moment.

Sgt Chesterfield: "Good point, but where did you get this stuff from?"

Cpl Blutch: "The Regimental Quartermaster Sergeant owes me a favor, so he got me all this stuff."

Sgt Chesterfield: "Do you always find ways to blackmail Sergeants?"

Cpl Blutch: "Only ones like you." The Sergeant was about to choke the Corporal when he decided they should carry on, the Captain's sentry was a friend of the two NCO's and part of Company B, so he let them up to his window and sneak inside. The Sergeant boosted up the smaller Corporal up through the window, he was much heavier because of the stuff he was carrying.

Both of them got into the cabin, the Captain was sleeping on a large featherbed, he was snoring loudly, the two NCO's then threw a coin to see who would scare him first, The Sergeant went first, so he put on a officer's uniform that was full of holes and gashes, he then put on a slouch hat that had a hole in it. Meanwhile, Blutch put some of the red ink on the bandages and wrapped the Chesterfield like a mummy. The Sergeant then stood over the Captain's bed and started to act ghostly.

Sgt Chesterfield (Ghostly): "Ooooooohh, Captain Stark." The Captain kept sleeping. "HEY!" The Captain was now awake and saw the Sergeant in the Lieutenant's uniform and he continued to act ghostly, the Captain was a little bit startled."

Capt Stark: "W-W-Who are you?"

Sgt Chesterfield (Ghostly): "Don't you remember me Captain, it's me, Lieutenant Crawford." Lieutenant Crawford used to be the commanding officer of Company C, but was killed at the Shenandoah River two months ago.

Capt Stark: "C-C-Crawford, but you were killed?"

Sgt Chesterfield: "Yes, but that's not the point, you are court-martialing one of your officers."

Capt Stark: "Who, Danford, he disobeyed orders."

Sgt Chesterfield: "He has saved the lives of many men under his command, he saved several Infantrymen today."

Capt Stark: "But he still hit his superior."

Sgt Chesterfield: "That may be, but he is one of your best officers, and he keeps men alive, he may have saved yours by doing that." The Captain thought about it, there was an artillery blast right after he was knocked off, it could have killed him.

Capt Stark: "Well, I'll consider it, now can you please go, I think I might need a new pair of long johns." The Sergeant quickly looked like he disappeared, but he really ducked under the featherbed next to Blutch, and when it appeared that the Captain was asleep the two leapt out the Window and ran back to their tent.

 _The Next Morning_

Lt Danford was released from the Guardhouse the following morning, he instantly went to see the Sergeant and Corporal. The Lieutenant stood in front of the tent of the two Non Commissioned Officers. The two of them were shining their boots when they saw the Lieutenant they stood at attention. The Lieutenant walked in and smiled at the two.

Lt Danford: "You two are something, scaring the Captain into dropping his charges on me." The two smiled at the Lieutenant. "Come on you two, I'll buy you both a drink from the Sutlers." The three of them walked out and went to get a Drink.

 **Happy Halloween Everyone.**


End file.
